MTC: A New Look, page-132

I think you're confused with cobalt Chair, salt lithium needs to be converted first to carbonate, then to hydroxide, which makes hydroxide more expensive from a salt source. Carbonate is cheaper to produce from salt than hydroxide from rock but the extra step needed to turn the carbonate into hydroxide, which is rapidly increasing as the most sought after form for batteries makes spodumene more profitable. Moran seems to be taking a bet on salt as a source while the people who built the plant when most lithium came from salt are walking away from it, likely because spodumene is the best bet. The LIT technology which we have the exclusive rights for in Quebec produces hydroxide. Orocobre have some info on the processing of lithium first to carbonate and then to hydroxide on their site. This is the reason why spodumene miners took off so rapidly over the last few years, it's a cheaper source of hydroxide and can outcompete brine producers on price